Central Library

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CENTRAL LIBRARY

Back to school means back to books, but at the library you’ll find a lot more than books this fall. The Newport Beach Public Library is starting a new season of programs and special events for all ages, including ongoing computer classes, story times for children, craft programs, classical music concerts and special events. One of the most exciting programs being introduced is “Seasoned with Theatre,” a series of free performing-arts enrichment programs for young people.

The Newport Beach Public Library will kick off its 2008 summer reading program Saturday with family events at three libraries. Registration begins at 10 a.m. at the Central Library, Crean Mariners Branch Library and Balboa Branch Library. The festivities will include music, magic, balloons and family entertainment that will begin at 10:30 a.m. As part of the reading program, children of all ages will track their reading time or time spent reading with an adult throughout the summer.

Sergeant Evan Sailor The Newport Beach Police Department is hosting a community meeting on April 16, 2008 at the Central Library - Friends Room located at 1000 Avocado Avenue, Newport Beach. The meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to approximately 7:30 p.m. Please show your support for your community and Police Department by participating in this "Town Hall" style meeting. It will be an open forum and is a chance for individuals to voice their concerns about quality of life issues that may be affecting their residence and/or business.

Mayor Ed Selich showed true leadership at the recent mayor’s dinner held at the Marriott Newport Beach. In a speech that started as a somber dedication to his father, who passed away last year, but took a turn toward the comical when he poked fun at a Daily Pilot cartoon depicting him and Bill Ficker wrestling over the fate of City Hall, Selich urged the city to come together to abide by the will of voters and build city hall — as...

NEWPORT BEACH Residents pass Measure B; project starts around 2009 Measure B, which requires the next Newport Beach City Hall to be built next to the central library on Avocado Avenue prevailed Tuesday with 52.8% of the vote. Mayor Ed Selich estimated it would take at least until the summer of 2009 before the city could get the proper environmental and traffic studies completed and break ground on the project. With an estimated two years for construction, a new city hall might not be open for business until 2011, he said.

Friends of the Newport Beach Public Library recently gave a $21,000 boost to children?s library programs. The money will be used for such things as buses for library visits by local school children, purchasing books, prizes and other materials for the library?s summer reading program, and providing support for a variety of children?s summer events. ?This gift will enhance the Summer Reading Program that serves over 2,000 children and benefit hundreds of first and fourth graders who will be able to make class visits to the library ,?

Newport Beach Public Library recently received two donations to upgrade its computer software and fund conceptual drawings of renovations. The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation donated $100,000 to the library in December to purchase a new automated library computer system. The donation was the first of two payments promised by the group to buy the software, which is designed to integrate all the data and processes of the library into one system. The Friends of Newport Beach Public Library also donated $7,500 to the library in December to cover the cost of conceptual drawings for a proposed remodeling of the circulation area of the Central Library at 1000 Avocado Ave., and the Friend’s Bookstore.

Two important factors will shape where voters decide the next Newport Beach city hall will go — traffic and cost. Two factions, for and against a February ballot measure that would require Newport Beach’s city hall to be built next to the city’s central library faced off Wednesday at the Newport Beach Yacht Club. The ballot measure, dubbed Measure B, would rewrite the city charter to specify that city hall must be on a site adjacent to the city’s central library.

Newport Beach Public Library readers requested an evening book group, and now it’s here. The all-new Manuscripts Evening Book Discussion Group will meet on the third Tuesday of each month from 7 until 8:30 p.m. in the Friends meeting room at the Central Library. The group will provide a fun and intellectually stimulating challenge while discussing titles old and new. The theme for the first season is: “Finding Ourselves in American Books.” The group is free, open to the public and sponsored by the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation.

Manuscripts Book Discussion Group is beginning the new 2007-08 season with an exciting lineup of titles, and the eagerly awaited list is unveiled below. Start reading now and have time to mull over your opinions before meeting on the second Wednesday of each month from 9:15 to 11 a.m. Books are selected from group suggestions, individual requests and title availability. Some people choose to purchase the book and make notes in the margins, while others prefer to check the books out from the library and keep a separate notebook.